This year I have challenged myself to be in the best physical shape I can be in. I competed in the Northeast Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race, finished the Capital Area Race Series, the TD Beach to Beacon 10K, and completed my fourth sprint triathlon and I was fortunate to have my employee colleagues join me! It is rare that I run a race without at least one of my Northeast Delta Dental comrades’ there, too. I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal which featured Tim Henschel, CEO of Hotelplanner.com who trains at lunch with his employees every day.
I think Henschel is genius for recruiting his employees to participate in triathlons, tough mudders, and marathons. While running and triathlon are technically individual events – it certainly makes the miles go by faster when you are swimming, biking, or running, as a team. Everything from your head to your toes matters to your health and Northeast Delta Dental is committed to improving the oral health and overall wellness of our customers and the general public. This, of course, must start with our internal customers – our employees! At Northeast Delta Dental we have a strong wellness culture and our employees understand that without exercise and eating a healthy diet, you cannot have good overall health.
We don’t run a country club at Northeast Delta Dental but we do encourage employees to move away from their desks several times per day. Our Safety and Wellness team distributes simple exercises that employees can complete near their desk and we have a running/walking team, the Toothaches, that practices weekly and supports each other through every community run and/or walk. We also provide an on-site fitness center and have a fitness coordinator on staff and we make complimentary fresh fruit available to our employees Monday through Friday.
I appreciate what Henschel says in the article — his employees motivate him to workout instead of him motivating his employees to work out. If I didn’t schedule my workouts, they wouldn’t happen. Would it be easier that way? Sure, but I know I wouldn’t have the energy to run my company effectively, serve as Chair of the State Board of Education, and handle my other board responsibilities. If I didn’t take care of myself, I wouldn’t be an effective leader.
You will see me and the rest of the Northeast Delta Dental team at the Cigna/Elliot Corporate Road Race on Thursday.
Here’s a photo of us at the Run United 5k last week.
See you out there.
